Drying apparatus



Dcf 21 ,1926.

Y J. D. CANTON! DRYING APPARATUS 4 Sheets-Sheet 1 INVENTOR. 7M H (471/017 3 TTORNET.

Filed NOV. 5, 1925 Dec. 21 1926.

J. D. CANTON! DRYING APPARATUS 1925 4 Sheets-Sheet 2 INVENTOR.

ATTORNE Dec. 21 1926 J. D. CANTONI DRYING APPARATUS Filed Nov. 5, 1925 4 Sheets-Sheet 55 lNI ENTOR. Jbhm 27. 622m @4074 z" ATTORE T.

Dec. 21 1926.

J. D. CANTONI DRYING APPARATUS Filed Nov. 5, 1925 4 Sheets-Sheet 4 V lll bmmm-i:55:55-55;

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J Patented Dec. 21, 1926.

NITED STATES I 1,611,632 PATENT OFF-ICE.

JOHN D. CANTONI, 0F NAPA, CALIFORNIA.

DRYING AFPARATUS.

i Application filed November 3, 1925. Serial No. 66,449.

This invention relates to an apparatus for drying fruits and vegetables, and its object is to produce a drier which willbe so 'formed as to deliver the hot air to the fruit or vegetables at a time when the materials can best withstand the greatest heat and to lead up to and away from that particular stage in such a way as to produce the best quality of dried materials.

It will be understood by'those skilled in the art that in the earliest stages of the drying, the temperature must not be too .high, but that during an intermediate stage of the drying, the temperature can be considerably higher without injuring the fruits or vegetables, but that during the latter stages of the drying, the temperature must be again somewhat lower, so that'in the present in stance, the drying chambers are so arranged provide means whereby the movement ofthe as to have the fruit move from the cooler end of the drier to the hotter end, and then to have the cars containing the trays turned around and moved in another channel away fro-in the hottest part of the drier to the, cooler portion thereof until the end of the treatment.

It further object of the invention is to cars along the drying tracks and on to the turn table and out of the drier, will be accomplished by the mere operation of a' power driven cable.

Another object of the invention is-to provide means whereby the furnace can be looatcd outside of the main wallsof the drier while the smoke fines are arranged inside the upper portion of the drier in such a way as to prevent the escape of any smoke in the two drying chambers, and provision is also made for permitting the escape from the drying chamber of a certain amount of air to insure the removal from the drier of moisture carried by the materials being treated, freshly heated air being taken into the drier from the space around the furnace.

An embodiment of the invention is shown in the accompanying drawings in which the same reference numeral is applied to the same portion throughout the several figures of the drawings and of which there may be modifications.

Figure 1 is a vertical sectional view of the complete drier.

"Figure 2 is a plan view of the complete drier, the plane of section being taken to show the cars for the trays.

for pulling the cars oil the turn table and pushing the entire line of cars'out of the drier, the movement taking place one car at a time.

Figure 7 is a side elevation of the hook for pulling the cars into the drier and on to the turntable.

This drier is intended to beof a size totake a series of cars illustrated at 1, which are supported by four wheels indicated at 2 and 8, and upon which are placedjstacks of trays 4c, the number of cars being dependent upon the length of the tunnel used and the capacity of the drier desired. The cars run upon two sets of tracks 5 and 6 and they. are turned around inside the drier upon a turn table 7 in a manner later to be described. The walls 8, 9, 10 form a somewhat rectangular structure provided with four doors 11, 12, 13 and 14 at one end of the'structure, while the dryingtunnels are separated from each other by a partition 15, which extends to the turn table and the tunnels are covered over by the horizontal partition 16, whileabove that is the outsidcj cover, on roof 17. The outside walls of the drier are made sufficiently thick to prevent the loss of undue heat, and at one side of the enclosure near the turn table is placed the Y above the drying tunnels and discharges through a series of heater lines 21 to 23,

finallyv reaching the smoke pipe 2%. At one i end of the structure there as a casing 25 f within which is mounted the fan 26 driven from a pulley 27 outside the main structure, The arrangement of the ceiling 16 is such that the fan discharges the air downwardly into the two drying tunnelsfand at the oppositc end of the tunnels it is drawn upwardly through a pair of openings in the ceiling 16 to be circulated over and under the smoke dues 21 to 23 to be re-heated. The structure rests upon a suitable concrete outside the structure of the drier.

floor, or base, 28, and said floor also forms the support for the turn table 7 It will also be seen that there are two holes 30, 31,

heated while the doors 13 and 14 are allowed to be open sufliciently to cause the discharge from the drier of sufiicient air to carry away moisture. It will be seen that the side walls of the drier are spread slightly at 34, 35, the object being to allow the necessary space for the turning of the cars on the turn table 7. The turn table 7 rests upon a seriesof rollers 40 and it is held in a central position by means of a pin41, which pin also forms the pivot for a sprocket wheel 32. The sprocket wheel 42 is engaged by sprocket chain v 43 which chain is connected to the cable 44, 45, the latter passing around a take-up sheave 46, attached by means of a shackle 47, rod 48 and hand wheel 49, threaded on, to rod-[i8 e sprocket chain passes around the sprocket wheel 42 and also around an idler 50. At

the opposite end of the drier from the turn table the cables pass around the drums 51.

and 52 respectively, each cable being wound around the drum in a reversible (direction from the other so that as the shaft 53 which carries said drum is rotated, one cable will be unwound while the other one is wound upon the drum. Under the turn table there are two stops 54 and 55, which stops are engaged by a heavy spring 56 on the upper side of the sprocket wheel 42, the arrangesaid latches engage with the stop 60 at the' proper time, the cam 56 disengaging said latches when necessary. The said latches and a fixed stop 60 hold the turn table in the proper position to align its tracks 61. to 64 with the tracks'5 and 6*that extend down the tunnel. A fixed stop 65 prevents the latch 57 from moving more than a fixed amount under the influence of its spring 59, there being a similar stop for the latch 58? Since the cable 44 passes under its drum 51, and since those drums must, of course, be low enough to avoid interferin with the axles of the cars, the wheels of w ich are only 4" in diameter, a roller 66 is provided to hold the cable 44 up to the desired level. Ad-

jacent the turn table there are two grooved rails 67, 68 for thesupport of a slide 69, which slide is connected to the cable by means of a clamp 70. This slide also has a latch 71 pivotally mounted thereon which is held in the raised position by means of a wspiral spring 72, and the front end of the latch is so shaped that it will pass under the flange 73 of one of the cars, and enable that car to be pulled ofi' the turn table. Similarly there are two'grooved rails 75, 76 which support a slide 77 carrying a spring hook 78 to push the line of incoming cars on to the turn table. The rotating of the shaft 53 is effected by means of a rack bar 79, which' "engages a pinion 80 on the end of the shaft 53, said shaftbeing supported in three suitable bearings 81, 82 and 83. The rackbar 79 is driven by means of a pitman 84 connected to a pin 85 on a worm wheel 86. The worm wheel 86 is driven from a small worm 87 on the motor shaft 88, said motor 89 being of any desired type. In order to prevent the cars from being pushed 'too far ahead on the turn table, a stiff spring 90 is secured to the wall of the structure 91 and it is shaped to the same curveas the cars will take in traveling around with the turn table, said sprin being low enough to engage the cars as in icated by the dotted line at 90.

The operation of the apparatus is as follows: The tracks 67, .68 and 75, 7 6' are just as long as is required to move one car plus the lengthiof the slides that operate in them.

Assuming a car to be pushed into the drier on the track 5, it will be pushed in by hand until it can be caught by the hook 78, whereupon the motor 89 may be started and the 86 the turn table 7 will be turned 180 bringing one of its latches 57 or 58 into contact with the stop 60, and as soon as a car has been brought to the position on the turn table shown in Figure 2 as vacant, the next movement of the cables to bring the car into the drier on track 5 will take that par ticular cm oif the turn table on to track 6,

and the operation will berepeated when ever it is desired to add another car to the drier. In the meantime, the air circulation by the fan willbe drawn under and over the flue and then driven through the trays on the cars.- Allthe time the doors 11 to 14 will be open much or little, as may be desired, to allow the escape of a certain amount pf air from the drier, whereby the moisture is permitted to escape, and at the same time "an equal amount of air is drawn through the openings 191 of the walls sur of, within the purview of the annexed late the air through both .ing pushed too far;

claims.

I claim- 1. A. drier of the class described, comprising a pair of tunnels side by side; means to move a line of cars into the drier through one of the tunnels, a turn table to receive the cars from said tunnel; means to turn said turn table 180 to place a car thereon in front of the second tunnel; means to move a second line of cars out of the drier through the second tunnel; means to circulate the air through both of said tunnels toward the receiving end of the drier; means to heat said air and means whereby a'portion of the air circulated will be allowed to escape from the drier to remove the moisture from the materials being dried,

2. A drier of the class described, comprising a pair of tunnels side by side, doors at the inlet end of the drier, a turn table to re ceive cars from one of the tunnels and position them in front of the other tunnel; means to push a line of cars along one of the said tunnels on to said turn table; means to prevent the car upon the turn table from bemeans to rotate the turn table to place. the'car thereon in front of the second tunnel, and means to move that car, and a line of cars outwardly from the drier along said second tunnel.

3. A drier of the class described, comprising a pair of tunnels side by side, doors at the inlet end of the drier, a turn table at the opposite end of said tunnels, cables for pulling a line of cars into the drier through one of the said tunnels and for turning the turn table to bring one of the cars placed thereon to a position in front of the second tunnel and other means on said table for removing that car from the turn table and pushing a line of cars into the second tunnel out of the drier, the movement being garried out one car at a time. I

4. A drier of the class described, comprising a pair of tunnels side by side, doors at the inlet end of the drier, means to take cars into the drierthrough one tunnel, and to remove the cars from the drier through the other tunnel, a heater means to circuof the tunnels in the same direction, a return flue containing heater lines over which the air is returned to'the circulating means, and a chamber allowing the heater open to the atmosphere and to the heating chamber containing the fines whereby a percentage of fresh air may be drawn into the drier continuously.

5. A drier of the class described, comprising a pair of tunnels arranged side by side, doors-at inlet end of the tunnels, means to move a series of cars into, the drier through one of the tunnels, means to shift the cars from a position at the end of the inlet tunnel to a position at the end of the exit tunnel, means to remove the cars from the drier through the exit tunnel, a fan to circulate the air in the same direction through both of sa d tunnels, and through a heating chamber over both of said tunnels, a heating furnace at the side of the drier, and means whereby a certain percentage o-f'air may be drawn into the heating chamber of the'drier from a chamber surrounding said furnace to compensate for air escaping from the drier charged .with moisture.

6. A drier of the class described, comprising a pair of tunnels arranged side by side, with a heating chamber over both of said tunnels, a furnace, flues extending therefrom into the heating chamber, a smoke flue into which the smoke is finally discharged, doors at the inlet end of the drier for both tunnels, means to move a series of cars into the drier through one tunnel and out of the same, through the other tunnel, and means to circulate the air in the drier through both of the tunnels. and through the heating chamber, so that the hottest air will pass over the cars at an intermediate portion of the drying operation.

7. A drier of the class described comprising a walled enclosure, two pairs of rails in said enclosure, trucks on said rails, fruit drying trays on'said trucks, an entrance door in said enclosure for the trucks on one of said pair of rails, an exit door for the trucks on the other pair of said rails, a turn table at the inner end of said rails, two pairs of rails on said turntable, a freely mounted sprocket-wheel on the under side of said turn table, a chainon said sprocket, a cable. attached to one end of said chain and extending over an adjustable pulley to a winding drum, a cable attached to the other end of said chain and extending to another Winding drum, a common shaft for said drums, means to drive said shaft, one of said drums being adapted to wind up a cable while the other is unwinding, means on said sprocket for turning said turntable in one direction, and means to stop said turntable with the rails in alignment.

In testimony whereof I have hereunto set my hand this 27th day of October, A. D.

JOHN D. OANTONI. 

